I faced exactly the same issue and made a similar addendum page. I put some
time and effort into getting the field appearances using this (probably
crappy) code
* COSDictionary fieldDict = field.getCOSObject();*
* COSArray fieldAreaArray = (COSArray) fieldDict*
* .getDictionaryObject(COSName.RECT);*
* PDRectangle result = new PDRectangle(fieldAreaArray);*
Then I did the sorting myself using the coordinates of the PDRectangles.
This does not deal with things like fields having more than one appearance
and I am probably doing something just wrong but it works well enough.
In retrospect it WAS NOT WORTH THE EFFORT. But your milage may vary.
On Mon, Sep 12, 2016 at 1:17 PM, Barry Neu <barry....@gmail.com> wrote:
> I’m trying to achieve the following.
> Client has forms approved by U.S. states where font must be Helvetica 9pt.
> Some content to be populated on the forms does not fit in the field. In
> this case there is a “footnote” such as "Addendum 1" populated in the
> field, and the actual content for the field is populated on an addendum
> page merged as a separate page to the base form. The addendum page
> references the numbered addendum(s) populated in the base form’s fields.
> Ideally, Addendum 1, Addendum 2, and so on would be numbered left to
> right, top to bottom in the fields of the form.
> Sounds like that is not possible without setting up some type of external
> ordering of the fields on the form.
>
>
>
> > On Sep 12, 2016, at 9:47 AM, Maruan Sahyoun <sahy...@fileaffairs.de>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hi Barry,
> >
> >
> >> Am 12.09.2016 um 17:16 schrieb Barry Neu <barry....@gmail.com <mailto:
> barry....@gmail.com>>:
> >>
> >> Is there any way to influence the order the fields occur in the field
> tree when creating fillable forms or otherwise?
> >>
> >
> > is there a specific order you are looking for? What are you trying to
> achieve? The order of the fields in the AcroForms fields array and the
> order how they are tabbed on screen when a user filled the form are not
> related!
> >
> > BR
> > Maruan
> >
> >
> >>> On Sep 9, 2016, at 4:44 PM, John Hewson <j...@jahewson.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> On 9 Sep 2016, at 15:15, Barry Neu <barry....@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Hello.
> >>>>
> >>>> The API docs for this method state an iterator is returned which
> "walks all fields in the field tree, in order”.
> >>>> Is the order left to right, top to bottom on the form .. I was hoping?
> >>>> I was hoping it was but ehe following code seems to prove otherwise.
> >>>
> >>> It's not a visual order. It's simply the order in which the fields
> occur in the field tree. This has no relation to where fields appear on the
> page.
> >>>
> >>> -- John
> >>>
> >>>> PDDocument pdDoc = getTemplate("http://localhost:
> 8000/template/Template_MA_ABJ4580MAG5_EF_L70SS_v5.pdf <
> http://localhost:8000/template/Template_MA_ABJ4580MAG5_EF_L70SS_v5.pdf>");
> >>>> PDAcroForm pdAcroForm = pdDoc.getDocumentCatalog().getAcroForm();
> >>>> Iterator<PDField> iter = pdAcroForm.getFieldIterator();
> >>>> while (iter.hasNext()) {
> >>>> PDField field = iter.next();
> >>>> String fieldName = field.getPartialName();
> >>>> System.out.println("field partial name: " + fieldName );
> >>>> }
> >>>>
> >>>> PDF in question is here: https://github.com/BarryNeu/shared <
> https://github.com/BarryNeu/shared>
> >>>>
> >>>> Thanks in advance.
> >>>> Barry
> >>>>
> >>>
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> >>>
> >>
> >>
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--
*Evan Williams*
Sr. Software Engineer
evan.willi...@zapprx.com
*www.ZappRx.com <http://www.zapprx.com/>*
